Undergraduate Research in µBiology

Undergraduate Research in µBiology

Maeva Metz, a junior microbiology major and molecular biology minor, has received a Goldwater Scholarship. Metz has been conducting research with faculty mentor Luis Actis for the past three years. Her current project involves characterizing a virulence factor that contributes to antibiotic resistance in the bacterium Acinetobacter baumannii.

Rhea Johnson, an Undergraduate Summer Scholar, fell in love with microbiology when she took a required course for her major. She added Microbiology as a second major along with Kinesiology and has now been conducting research with mentor Annette Bollmann, Associate Professor of Microbiology, for the past two years.

Art Oliva, a Microbiology major and Undergraduate Summer Scholar, is working with mentor Paul Urayama, Associate Professor of Physics, on research to help understand the effects of high pressure on cellular metabolism. They use laser-induced fluorescence to study the function of mitochondria—the powerhouses of cells that share an ancestry with modern bacteria.

Blake Rasor, a sophomore biology and microbiology double major, received a Goldwater Scholar Honorable Mention. Rasor works with Michael Robinson, professor of biology, on research involving retina development in mouse embryonic stem cells, using the bacterial CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing technology. His project involves the transdifferentiation of retinal pigment epithelium cells.

Faculty Research in µBiology

Faculty Research in µBiology

Microbiologist Mitchell Balish, associate professor of microbiology, and his graduate students are working to understand the features of Mycoplasma pneumoniae biofilms and determine how their development might be inhibited. A recent study by Monica Feng and Steven Distelhorst, graduate students in Balish's laboratory, sheds light on how biofilms of the bacterium M. pneumoniaeorganize themselves.

Combined Bachelor's/Master's Degree

Combined Bachelor's/Master's Degree

Our combined degree option allows students at Miami to combine Master’s level research with an undergraduate major, resulting in graduation with both a Master of Science in Microbiology and a Bachelor’s degree in their major (either Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science). Students can count up to 12 hours of graduate (500-level) Microbiology courses towards their undergraduate degree.

The combined program is intended to take 5 years, instead of the 6 (or more) usually required to obtain both an undergraduate degree and a graduate degree. Students completing M.S. degree will be positioned for entry into research careers or advanced graduate education at the doctoral level.

Phage Biology for First-year Students!

Phage Biology for First-year Students!

MBI 223: Bacteriophage Biology introduces first-year students to microbiology using a unique hands-on approach. Students will collect environmental samples to isolate viruses that infect bacteria (bacteriophages) to analyze, and will learn basic microbiology techniques as they purify DNA for genome sequencing and prepare the phages for electron microscopy.

In the second course in the series, MBI 224: Bacteriophage Genomics, students will perform hands-on analysis of the genome of their phages. Students will learn about DNA structure, genome organization, and basic principles of bioinformatics, and use this knowledge to annotate their bacteriophage genome using computational methods.

Welcome to Microbiology!

Welcome to Microbiology!

Welcome to the Department of Microbiology, where students and faculty are involved in exciting educational and research activities. Our programs offer a great opportunity to study the microbial world and to learn how this knowledge has provided a foundational understanding of diverse biological processes, including DNA replication, differential gene expression, the nature of severe infectious diseases and the alarming increase in antibiotic resistance, as well as the nature and role of microbial communities that persist under extreme conditions and contribute to critical biogeochemical cycles, just to mention a small number of examples….

Our Logo

Our Logo

We have adopted the Greek letter "µ" as representative of our department and of our field of study. The letter "µ" is a symbol for the scientific prefix micro-, which indicates one millionth of a unit of measure. This is quite appropriate for Microbiology (or µBiology) as the size of the organisms we study are on the order of 1 µm (a.k.a. micron - a millionth of a meter), or smaller. In addition, the symbol is spelled mu, which is also an abbreviation for Miami University (M.U.) Taken together, µ for micro and M.U. for Miami University gives us µmu as shorthand for Microbiology at Miami University, which is the basis of our logo.

Pearson Hall

Department of Microbiology

With areas of emphasis in Molecular Microbiology, Microbial Pathogenesis and Environmental Microbiology, the Department of Microbiology provides our majors a wide range of laboratory experiences and a faculty that is dedicated to excellence in teaching and research.